Southern Blvd. bridge is open after delays

MICHAEL TURNBELL On The Roads

Q When will the Southern Boulevard bridge over U.S. 441 in Royal Palm Beach be completed? When will the rest of Southern Boulevard be completed?

Sandra Drobner, Boynton Beach

A: The entire bridge opened two weeks ago.

Initially, the overpass was supposed to open last summer, then in September, before the end date was finally moved to the week after Thanksgiving.

The project to widen Southern between Florida's Turnpike and U.S. 441 is the last of four projects to transform Southern into an eight-lane, east-west expressway from Interstate 95 to the western end of Forest Hill Boulevard.

The $29 million project is considered to be on time even though the official completion date has moved from January to March because of weather delays, including the 2005 hurricanes.

An 8.5-mile stretch of Southern from Forest Hill to County Road 880 not connected to the Southern widening is being repaved. That $8.8 million project will be finished by mid-2008.

Q Do Florida lawmakers have any plans to ban talking on cell phones while driving?

Jonathan Vander Wolk, Margate

A: Yes. But the proposals unveiled so far only target drivers under 18.

Senate Transportation Chairman Carey Baker, R-Eustis, and Rep. John Legg, R-Port Richey, have introduced bills to make Florida the 18th state to ban talking on cell phones or send text messages while driving, but only for drivers younger than 18.

In September, California became the latest state with a ban when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation prohibiting drivers younger than 18 from using mobile devices. Seventeen states in all have such a ban.

The Florida bills (SB504 and HB193) would allow police to issue non-criminal traffic citations to drivers younger than 18 caught using cell phones, laptops or hand-held devices such as BlackBerrys while driving. Headsets also would be prohibited.

Both proposals would allow tickets to be written only when drivers are stopped for another infraction, such as speeding, similar to the seat belt law. If found guilty, the penalty would be one point against the driver's license.

Q What does a broken double yellow line down the middle of a road mean? It is not very common, but I have seen it on several two-lane roads in South and Central Florida.

In other states, you might find a broken double yellow line on a two-lane road with a center lane for left turns in either direction of travel.

In Florida, the standard for center turn lanes is a solid yellow line to the right of a broken yellow center line, which means passing or crossing is prohibited in that lane except when making a left turn.